B&C visited Linnanmäki amusement park last week. While the park has taken a turn to worse and prices are quite high (5 euros for a hot dog, come on) they have managed to keep their pinball machines and not get rid off them. While their pinball machines are mostly from 1990´s, park has managed to preserve them in working order. Playing and admiring some of these machines sparked Bean´s old love for these machines and to blog about them. Crumpet was on my side secretly admiring his companions skills and declared herself to be the official "pinball widow" :).
History of pinball goes to 18th century when decadent French aristocracy decided it needed some extra entertainment besides wine and escargot and ripping l´argent from poor peasants back. They invented a bagatelle table which basically was a modified billiards table. In the end of 19th century A British inventor patented his improvements in the bagatelle table and started industrial manufacturing of these tables in Cincinnati, Ohio. During 20th century pinball machines got more and more popular with real boom between the end of WWII and 1980´s. The advent of video game and yellow guy named Pac-Man were the first signs of doom for pinball machines. Later the decline of coin-operated video games and arcades and the rise of computer and console gaming drove pinball to the shadows. Pinball had a short comeback in 1990´s but it didn´t last long.
Design and craft of these pinball machines has to be admired. It´s amazing to think there has been whole industry just for these machines. Some of the machines are very beautifully designed and have good amount of details if you observe them closely. Their sound world can also be quite capturing. What is so capturing in these old machines then? After all, we live in an age where the number crunching power of microprocessors in growing exponentially and are thus capable of producing world with very realistic image and sound and captivating experience. Maybe even too captivating for some people.
A Freudian-Darwinian would answer, that for men it´s the scoring, putting some balls in the holes and lanes and competition of alpha males in sweaty arcade for being the Pinball Wizard e.g. scoring the most. I like the sheer physicality of the machine instead of just staring at some screen. You can feel the machine kicking and shaking from the ball going around and different parts of the machine activating. It also possible, in some models, the alter the course of the ball by moving the machines, although most machines are protected against "tilting". Fast pace of the game also gets your adrenaline going. Simplicity of the game is also very addictive, you just have to gather more points and not let the ball go. Usually the simplest games are the most addictive (like Tetris, Pac-Man, Asteroid, Commando). Part of pinball fandom, at least for people aged 30+, is pure nostalgia. Arcades had a magic aura in the age of Commodore 64. Pinball is also a social game in a sense although it´s a single-player game. You have to go to amusement park, arcade, bar of cafe to play them and leave the confines of your home. Social element comes from competing against other people and discussing game tactics and hints. Before home computers this must have been important element of the game and people spending money on them. Pinball machine in the corner of some dinky bar in a town far far away must have been a lifeline for a person.
Pinball machines are becoming luxury items and older machines collectibles. After short research I found out that it´s possible to obtain one for $3000-$5000. Finding spare parts, repair or maintenance for your machine might be harder, at least in Finland. Person living in a flat also needs patient or deaf neighbor. Fortunately old pinball classics have been revived as computer games like Visual Pinball and Visual PinMAME which shows that people still miss these games.
What about the machines in Linnanmäki then? They have some old classics like Attack from Mars (rated #8 in Internet Pinball Machine Database, httP://www.ipdb.org), Funhouse (rated #9), Who Dunnit and Fish Tales, but also some newer games like Lord of the Rings (rated #10). I encourage you to check them out. They seems to be always free as most people go only to rides. It´s good to remember that while traveling, flipper spotting might add a nice touch to your vacation.
By Bean
PS. Finnish pinball machines can be found from here including the ones in Linnanmäki.
